Hop variety named &#39;or91331&#39;

ABSTRACT

A new and distinct Hop plant cultivar named ‘OR91331’ is disclosed, characterized by having an early mature date, resistance to downy mildew ( Pseudoperonospora humuli  [Miyabe &amp; Takah.] G. W. Wilson) and powdery mildew ( Podosphaera macularis  [Walk.] U. Braun &amp; S. Takam); vigorous with high yield potential; high alpha acids ; high oil content; and high amounts of some essential oil components implicated in driving beer flavor and aroma such as myrcene, cymene, methyl heptanoate, linalool, citronellol, and terpineol.

Genus and species: Humulus lupulus.

Variety denomination: ‘OR91331’.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure comprises a new and distinct cultivar of Humuluslupulus, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name ‘OR91331’.

The new hop plant resulted from a planned breeding program from crossingHumulus lupulus ‘Perle’ (unpatented), as the female parent and anunknown male parent (as the female plants were open pollinated). Theresulting hop plant was selected when growing in a cultivated area inCorvallis, Oreg. in 2010.

SUMMARY

During October, 2009, open pollinated seed was collected from a ‘Perle’hop yard growing near Corvallis, Oreg. This seed was stratified at 34°F. for 8 weeks, and planted into flats containing a standard soil mix ina greenhouse in Corvallis, Oreg. in January 2010. Established hopseedlings were screened for powdery mildew resistance and general vigor.Selected plants were transplanted into a field nursery under a 6 foottall trellis near Corvallis, Oreg. in May, 2010. These plants were givenone string for climbing support, and were evaluated for general vigor,sex, and downy and powdery mildew resistance during the 2010 growingseason. During January 2011, plants selected after short trellisscreening were transplanted while dormant to a spaced-plant nurseryunder a standard 18 foot trellis near Corvallis, Oreg. ‘OR91331’ was oneof the plants selected and transplanted to the standard trellis.‘OR91331’ was rated for downy mildew and powdery mildew in 2011, 2012,2013, and 2014, and due to sporadic infestation at the Corvallis site,hop aphid and hop looper damage in 2012 and 2014. ‘OR91331’ wassuccessfully propagated from rhizome and stem cuttings during February2013 in a greenhouse in Corvallis, Oreg., and transplanted into areplicated nursery on two Willamette Valley, Oregon commercial hop farmsduring June, 2013 along with 3 other experimental hop genotypes. Onefarm was located near Silverton, Oreg., the other farm was located nearIndependence, Oreg. Each nursery contained 4 blocks, and each plotwithin a block contained 5 plants. These advanced testing nurseries weremanaged by the grower using the same techniques that they used formanaging their commercial hop yards. Disease and pest data were notcollected from the advanced testing plots due to the growersaggressively treating these nurseries to minimize disease and pestinfestations.

Beginning in September 2012, ‘OR91331’ entered sensory testing viasmall, organized groups of craft brewers in the Western Oregon region.Brewers assessed the dry-rub aroma characteristics, followed byassessing the hop's flavor and aroma profile when dosed into a basicpale ale that was brewed without hops but bittered with iso-alphaextract. During September 2013, several craft brewers began pilotbrewing trials with ‘OR91331’ that was harvested from advanced plotsnear Silverton and Independence, Oreg. ‘OR91331’ was propagated andestablished in a 3 acre experimental block near Silverton Oreg., and a7.5 acre experimental block near Independence, Oreg. during July, 2015.These experimental blocks were each managed by a commercial hop growerusing their normal hop production practices. These experimental blockswere harvested in 2016 and 2017, processed by a Portland, Oreg. hopmerchant, and used for test brewing.

The ‘OR91331’ variety is distinguished from other hop plant varietiesdue to the following unique combination of characteristics. When grownin Oregon's Willamette Valley, ‘OR91331’ is:

-   -   1. early maturing;    -   2. resistant to downy and powdery mildew (Pseudoperonospora        humuli [Miyabe & Takah.] G. W. Wilson);    -   3. is vigorous with high yield potential;    -   4. has high alpha acids;    -   5. has high oil content; and    -   6. has high amounts of some essential oil components implicated        in driving beer flavor and aroma such as myrcene, cymene, methyl        heptanoate, linalool, citronellol, and terpineol.

Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar ‘OR91331’ was first performedin Corvallis, Oreg. via rhizomes. Subsequent propagations have been viarhizomes and stem cuttings. This genotype has been stable for foursuccessive propagations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates the pedigree for ‘OR91331’.

FIG. 2 shows a 3-year old, 3rd propagation generation of ‘OR91331’growing near Silverton, Oreg. in August, 2017.

FIG. 3 shows mature cones of ‘OR91331’ from a 3-year old plant growingnear Silverton, Oreg. in August 2017.

FIG. 4 shows mature leaf examples for a 3rd propagation generation,3-year old mature ‘OR91331’ plant growing near Silverton, Oreg. inAugust, 2017.

DETAILED BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description of the ‘OR91331’ variety is based onobservations of a 3-year old plant, 3rd propagation generation, growingon a commercial farm near Silverton, Oreg. in August, 2017. The originalplant and progeny have been observed growing in a cultivated area nearSilverton, Oreg. The new cultivar has not been evaluated under allpossible environmental conditions. Certain characteristics of thisvariety, such as growth and color, may change with changingenvironmental conditions (e.g., light, temperature, moisture, nutrientavailability, or other factors). The color descriptions are all based onThe Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart, 5^(th) edition, 2007.

-   Parentage:    -   -   Female parent.—Humulus lupulus ‘Perle’.        -   Male parent.—Unknown.-   Comparison to ‘Cascade’: The female parent for ‘OR91331’ is the    German aroma hop ‘Perle’. The male parent is unknown as ‘OR91331’    arose from an open-pollinated seed. The closest known commercial hop    genotype to ‘OR91331’ is ‘Cascade’. The hop variety ‘OR91331’    differs from ‘Cascade’ in notable ways when grown in Oregon's    Willamette Valley, it's target environment: 1. ‘OR91331’ matures    5-7days earlier than ‘Cascade’. 2. ‘OR91331’ is resistant to powdery    mildew (Podosphaera macularis [Wallr.] U. Braun & S. Takam),    ‘Cascade’ is susceptible to race 6 of this pathogen. 3. ‘OR91331’    has shorter cone than ‘Cascade’. 4. Hop cone chemistry is sensitive    to several non-genetic factors including harvest timing,    post-harvest processing, and disease and pest pressure. Given these    factors, ‘OR91331’ typically contains higher amounts of the    following chemical components than ‘Cascade’: alpha acids, total    essential oil, alpha pinene, myrcene, cymene, methyl heptanoate,    citronellal, linalool, caryophyllene, terpin-4-ol, humulene, alpha    terpineol, and citronellol. ‘OR91331’ typically contains less    farnesene, citral 2, nerol, damascenone, and ionone than ‘Cascade’.    Data is provided below in Table 1.

TABLE 1 ‘OR91331’ ‘Perle’ ‘Cascade’ Alpha acids 13.17 ± 0.89  7.70 ±2.85 7.48 ± 0.94 11.68-14.64  4.05-11.63 6.19-8.63 Beta acids 5.89 ±0.52 3.25 ± 0.64 6.71 ± 0.98 5.08-6.89 2.47-4.14 5.16-7.49 Cohumulone0.213 ± 0.016 0.24 ± 0.03 0.31 ± 0.09 0.17-0.24 0.19-0.29 0.14-0.41Colupulone 0.479 ± 0.029 0.46 ± 0.04 0.50 ± 0.09 0.44-0.53 0.36-0.520.33-0.57 Oil 2.48 ± 0.43 1.64 ± 0.62 1.92 ± 0.47 2.0-3.2 1.0-2.71.1-2.4 Alpha Pinene 2.40 ± 0.84 1.47 ± 0.86 1.88 ± 0.03 1.42-4.730.52-2.88 1.85-1.91 Beta Pinene 20.19 ± 8.13  7.41 ± 7.42 16.95 ± 1.51 10.88-39.47  0.01-27.15 14.64-18.31 Isobutyle 4.43 ± 2.76 5.40 ± 8.731.93 ± 0.20 Isobutyrate  1.47-11.18  1.92-28.52 1.69-2.21 Myrcene1527.92 ± 594.19  839.78 ± 418.75 1084.57 ± 312.45  451.97-3002.26 359.80-1651.73  556.16-1302.33 Limonene 6.59 ± 3.56 5.59 ± 2.75 4.56 ±0.39  3.13-17.09  1.36-11.81 3.88-4.83 Cymene 4.02 ± 6.07 4.03 ± 5.870.15 ± 0.09  0.18-22.51  0.04-18.99   0-0.23 Methyl 10.64 ± 11.80 5.18 ±6.70 2.20 ± 1.26 Heptanoate    0-49.18    0-21.99   0-3.05 Hexenol 0.24± 0.10 0.18 ± 0.05 0.18 ± 0.11   0-0.43 0.12-0.24   0-0.26 Citronellal2.67 ± 1.13 2.24 ± 1.82 1.28 ± 1.19 1.50-5.16 0.40-4.40 0.61-3.4 Linalool 21.59 ± 7.97  9.69 ± 5.23 9.01 ± 1.20 12.38-38.70  3.96-25.74 7.13-10.37 Caryophyllene 170.65 ± 164.00 206.68 ± 139.77 38.28 ± 46.61   0-485.04  24.86-393.80  14.02-121.55 Terpin-4-ol 121.86 ± 104.5438.61 ± 45.88 76.56 ± 44.01    0-245.23    0-90.99    0-107.76 Farnesene2.31 ± 3.27 43.58 ± 43.62 122.62 ± 11.23    0-9.62    0-141.09109.16-136.11 Humulene 696.08 ± 167.38 583.72 ± 296.46 253.81 ± 19.74  441.05-1109.40 2221.84-1124.63 222.68-277.42 Citral 1 2.62 ± 5.63  9.19± 12.90 1.94 ± 4.33    0-17.28    0-30.48   0-9.69 Citral 2 0.46 ± 0.443.31 ± 4.21 3.26 ± 2.24   0-1.74  0.16-10.32 1.03-6.29 Alpha 16.39 ±15.34 0.70 ± 0.96 7.38 ± 4.18 Terpineol  0.77-39.88   0-3.12   0-9.76Geranyl 11.21 ± 22.87 1.08 ± 1.04 8.72 ± 9.20 Acetate    0-66.300.12-3.85  3.73-25.16 Citronellol 40.88 ± 22.11 16.69 ± 23.72 20.68 ±2.41     0-61.82    0-55.00 17.56-23.50 Nerol 7.40 ± 2.81 7.69 ± 6.3410.96 ± 6.07   0.6-12.9  0.94-17.47  3.06-19.39 Damascenone 0.49 ± 0.360.88 ± 1.15 7.24 ± 7.78   0-1.11   0-2.77    0-15.84 Geraniol 3.11 ±2.05 3.74 ± 3.53 2.896 ± 0.82  1.20-9.46 0.69-9.76 2.04-4.25 Ionone 0.21± 0.09 0.19 ± 0.05 0.43 ± 0.45   0-0.37 0.12-0.24   0-0.97 Caryophyllene3.44 ± 4.80 5.16 ± 5.62 1.26 ± 0.75 Oxide  0.17-16.96  0.67 ± 19.24  0-1.96 Epoxides 4.61 ± 5.68 9.96 ± 9.98 2.79 ± 1.65  0.65-18.30 1.47-35.73   0-4.31 Chemical attributes for ‘OR91331’, ‘Perle’, and‘Cascade’ when grown in Oregon's Willamette Valley. Top row is mean ±standard deviation on top, bottom row in italics is the range. Data arenormalized to 8% cone dry matter and the units are mg compound per 100gm dried hop tissue.

-   Ploidy: diploid.-   Plant: Vigorous climbing bine.    -   -   Shape.—Columnar.        -   Plant head volume.—Medium.-   Bine:    -   -   Color.—Mature plant bine is light green (RHS 145A) with            occasional red striping (RHS 180A) on the bine margin.        -   Anthocyanin coloration.—Absent.        -   Internode length (cm).—Average=24.0, range=17.4-27.8.        -   Diameter (cm).—Average=0.77, range=0.7-1.0.        -   Length (ft).—18-21.-   Petiole:    -   -   Length.—Average=14.2, range=8.7-17.7.        -   Color.—Green (RHS 141D) with some red (RHS 180A) shading.        -   Shape.—Flat upper surface with channel.-   Leaf:    -   -   Arrangement.—Opposite.        -   Shape.—Cordate to 3-lobed.        -   Color—upper surface.—Dark green (RHS 137D); lower surface:            green (RHS N138B).        -   Mature leaf width (cm).—Average=18.5, range 11.8-22.7.        -   Mature leaf length (cm).—Average=19.9, range=13.3-24.7.        -   Main bine leaf lobing.—Primarily 3-lobed with occasional            cordate.        -   Vein color.—Light green (RHS 149C).        -   Blistering.—Absent.        -   Leaf margin.—Serrated.        -   Lateral length, mid-canopy (cm).—Average=91.9,            range=28.3-129.5.        -   Lateral internode length, 2nd internode from main bine            (cm).—Average=19.0, range=12.4-25.7.-   Cone:    -   -   Flowering date.—July 15-20.        -   Length (cm).—Average=2.98, range=2.4-3.7.        -   Width (cm).—Average=1.79, range=1.3-2.1.        -   Number of bracts per cone.—Average=18.6, range=16-25.        -   Number of bracteoles per cone.—Average=34.2, range=28-41.        -   Total bracts+bracteoles per cone.—Average=52.8, range 44-64.        -   Bract length (cm).—Average=1.56, range=1.3-1.9.        -   Bract width (cm).—Average=1.05, range=0.8-1.3.        -   Bract apex.—Typically 1-2 mm.        -   Bract color.—Yellowish green (RHS 141D).        -   Bracteole length (cm).—Average=1.52, range=1.3-1.7.        -   Bracteole width (cm).—Average=0.91, range=0.7-1.1.        -   Bracteole color.—Yellowish green (RHS 141D). Comparative            cone data is provided in Table 2.

TABLE 2 Cone architecture measurements for four hop genotypes grown nearSilverton, Oregon in 2017. Data are in centimeters. Cone Bract BracteoleLength Width Length Width Length Width 9-1-331 2.98 b 1.79 1.56 b 1.051.52 b 0.91 a ‘Perle’ 2.91 b 1.75 1.35 c 0.93 1.39 c 0.70 b ‘Cascade’3.67 a 1.90 1.67 b 1.01 1.55 b 0.87 a ‘East Kent 3.87 a 1.82 1.82 a 1.021.81 a 0.84 a Golding’ (unpatented) LSD (0.05) 0.37 NS 0.14 NS 0.13 0.12

-   Agronomic traits:    -   -   Commercial yield.—1800-2100 lbs/ac (dried) (2 commercial            farms, 2 harvests at each).        -   Harvest date.—Typically ripened between August 21-September            1 in Oregon's Willamette Valley. Typical harvest is August            25, approximately 7 days before ‘Cascade’ and ‘Perle’.-   Pathogen resistance:    -   -   Downy mildew (Pseudoperonospora humuli [Miyabe &            Takah.] G. W. Wilson).—Resistant, symptoms have not been            observed in 8 years of testing at 3 Willamette Valley            locations.        -   Powdery mildew.—Resistant, symptoms have not been observed            in 8 years of testing at 3 Willamette Valley locations.        -   Verticillium wilt (Verticillium albo-atrum Reinke &            Berthier)&(Verticillium dahliae Kleb).—Unknown.        -   Hop looper (Hypnea humuli Harris).—Tolerant, 3.5 on a 0-5            scale where 0 is no damage, 5 is severe damage.        -   Damson hop aphid (Phorodon humuli Schrank).—Moderately            resistant, 1 on a 0-4 scale where 0 is no aphids present, 4            is severe infestation.-   Sensory observations: Sensory assessment was initiated in September    2012, and to date, approximately 100 different brewers representing    11 different breweries have participated in dry-rub and hop tea    evaluations of ‘OR91331’. General dry rub characters described are    notes of soft rounded fruits such as melons and tropical fruits    combined with notes from sharper, tangy fruits such as berries and    citrus. Herbal notes similar to Cannabis have also been reported.    When ‘OR91331’ is used on the “hot side” of the brewing process,    brewers report fresh tropical, citrus, and berry notes in beer such    as passion fruit, grapefruit, strawberry, and sauvignon blanc wine    grape. When ‘OR91331’ is used on the “cold side” of the brewing    process such as when dry-hopping, notes that are emphasized include    grapefruit and Cannabis aromas.

I claim:
 1. A new and distinct cultivar of hop plant, substantially asherein shown and described.